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Select Board forms Center Street Lots study committee, approves charge and funding for community process
Summary
The Select Board approved a charge to create a new committee to study town‑owned Center Street parking lots in Coolidge Corner, with Mike Sandman named as chair and staff saying ARPA funds of $225,000 support the consultant‑led process.
The Select Board approved a charge to establish a select‑board‑appointed Center Street Lots Committee to lead a community‑driven study of the town‑owned Center Street parking lots in Coolidge Corner. The committee will be chaired by Select Board member Mike Sandman and staffed by the Economic Development Division.
Zach Tesler, a planner in the Economic Development Division, said the project is funded with $225,000 in ARPA dollars and that the town has contracted with a consultant team led by Spec Dempsey with Stantec and Eisenberg Projects on tactical urbanism and activation. Staff said the project timeline is roughly one year of study and engagement and that technical parking scenario analysis will continue; $25,000 was redirected to continue parking analysis from earlier Coolidge Corner work.
Board members asked about the breadth of possible outcomes. Staff said the charge is intentionally community‑facing and open to a range of uses so long as town policy objectives — multimodal access, commercial vibrancy, public gathering space, green space/urban canopy, climate resilience and consideration of parking needs — are addressed. Several members emphasized the importance of integrating the study with the town’s comprehensive planning process and of keeping parking capacity and Coolidge Corner commercial vitality central to any scenarios.
The Select Board approved the committee and charge by voice vote. Staff said an application process for committee membership will open soon and that the study will include public engagement and technical analysis. Any future land‑use or development proposals arising from the study would require separate approvals by relevant boards and committees.
Why it matters: The Center Street lots sit on a high‑visibility parcel in Coolidge Corner and have been the subject of planning discussions for decades. The study will examine potential changes to public space, parking and commercial patterns in a busy neighborhood.
Next steps: Staff to open the application for committee members, begin consultant work and schedule public engagement sessions; technical parking analyses will be used to assess the effect of any proposed reconfiguration on Coolidge Corner parking supply.
